The Golden Boar
by o0SummerSkies0o
Summary: A retelling of a classic fairytale. Shikamaru thought he had it good in Konoha , but you when add Ino, Hokage-sama, a talking pig, and a triage of missions into the mix, life is anything but that. How troublesome for Shikamaru! Part 1 of 2 ShikaIno


**The Golden Boar**

**Part 1 of 2**

**By: SummerSkies**

Once upon a time, there was old shinobi who had a daughter named Ino. She was called Ino because of her special affinity with the wild boars of the forest, and also due to the fact that it was a tradition in the old shinobi's family that the firstborn was always named with a derivative of the father's name. Indeed, her affinity with the wild pigs was so strong that it crossed onto the neighbor homes' pigs. Her father, who loved his daughter so, hardly knew what to do whenever he came home from a hard day's work to find her playing with pigs and boars.

Ino's affinity for the wild boars and local pigs soon became well known. Whenever there was a disappearance of a neighborhood pig, they would be found with Ino. All was well until Ino grew old enough to realize what was happening to her domesticated friends; she began to she began to free them from her neighbors by releasing them into the wild.

One shinobi named Karin, took particular offense to what Ino was doing. "She's robbing us of our profits and our food supplies!" she cried in outrage at the town meeting. The other villagers, who had turned a blind eye earlier to Ino's successful rescue attempts, began to complain as well.

After conferring amongst themselves, one particular shinobi spoke out. His name was Danzo. "I do not like how Inoichi's daughter robs us of our pigs! I agree with Karin-san! She must be stopped!"

"I agree!" cried another named Kabuto. "I cannot allow for anymore losses! Those pigs that she liberates keep me from feeding my family!"

The sounds of discontent in Otagakure increased to the point where there was talk of driving the old shinobi and his daughter out of the land.

Inoichi could only sit in his chair with his head held in his hands, filled with despair. He couldn't afford to be driven out. Otagakure was a small village with so few chances to earn money. In addition, his jutsu specialities were geared towards assassinations, not massacres. There was no way he could just kill all the dissenters en masse.

One villager –the Otakage actually, saw this as his opportunity to strike. He stepped forward to the center stage. It was Orochimaru. "Now, now everyone," he soothed them. I'm sure that an arrangement can be made so that everyone can be satisfied. We cannot afford to loss of two shinobi. Otagakure is too small to absorb that." The cries of protest grew. "But," he said, holding his hand up for silence, "If you are willing to help us find more skilled shinobi to help us expand, I in turn will take care of your daughter for you while help us out. In return for my taking care of Inoichi's daughter," Orochimaru continued, turning back to the rest of the villagers, "She will remain in town, unable to continue with her quest of liberation for the pigs and wild boars of this land."

Inoichi had no other choice to agree. No matter which way he looked at it, it was the best possible solution for his daughter while he searched for more skilled shinobi to settle into Otagakure and of a new village to settle into. Numbly, he shook his head to agree.

When Inoichi came home from the town meeting, he called his daughter to him as he made preparations for his journey. Ino came inside the house with two warthogs following her.

"My precious Ino," Inoichi said as he strapped on his traveling gear. "I am leaving on a mission to find shinobi for Otagakure. Be careful while I am gone. I will come back for you as soon as I possibly can. Be safe my child."

Two years later…

One day, three young shinobi –nephews of another village leader, were sent abroad to travel. They came upon the village of Otagakure where Ino resided. They spotted said girl at a balcony, brushing out her long pale blond hair as she enjoyed the warmth of the sun. In that moment, those three young men fell in love with her, but for different reasons. Shikamaru, the eldest and smartest of the cousins, was entranced by how peaceful and relaxed she appeared. Shino, the middle and most stoic of the three, was told by his insect companions of how skilled Ino was with gardening and of her gentleness with insects. Kiba, the youngest and most impetuous, could not get over at the physical beauty of Ino and how good she smelled to him and his hunting hound Akamaru. Despite these different reasons, each of the cousins wanted to make Ino their bride. As they each expressed their desire, they realized the impossibility of achieving it if their cousins wanted the very same person. They were so intent on getting what they wanted that they began to argue and fight. Their fighting got to be so loud that it disturbed Orochimaru from his secret science experiments.

Spotting Ino on the balcony from his secret laboratory and the three young men below it arguing, it didn't take very long for Orochimaru to determine that Ino was the source of his distraction. Full of wrath at the trouble that the girl had given him since he had taken her in –she consistently refused to help him find pigs for his experiments, Orochimaru grabbed the closest corked beaker next to him, and threw it with all his might at Inoichi's daughter.

His aim was on target, and the beaker hit Ino with such force on the forehead that it broke leaking fluids all over her. In less than a minute, Ino was gone, and in her place stood a small golden boar. The golden boar took one quick glance around her before she realized that things were drastically different from before. With a squeal at surprise and pleasure at this turn of events, the golden boar ran back into the room to escape the house that kept her away from her friends.

The three cousins, who were stopped by the squeal of a boar, stopped and looked up at the balcony. The beautiful girl that they had spotted was no longer there. Maybe she was disgusted with their less than familial behavior they surmised. Embarrassed, they apologized to one another before they decided to head back home to Konohagakure.

A year later and in Konohagakure…

Tsunade was the village leader of Konohagakure. She was growing older now and wanted to retire. As the village leader, it was up to her to choose her successor, but how could she go about it without upsetting her nephews? She had an idea of who she wanted, but did not want it to be the cause of strife in her beloved village. After much contemplation, she decided that she would leave it to chance and the goddess of good fortune to determine who would be the next leader to the village.

She took a swig of sake to better fortify herself on what she was about to do to her three nephews. She rang the bell for Shizune. Her trusted assistant appeared in less than a minute. "Oi oi Shizune," Tsunade said, waving a hand at her. "Go fetch me my three nephews. I have somethin' important to tell them."

Shizune nodded. She had just received notice a few hours ago that they had arrived back to Konohagakure and were all at their respective homes re-settling themselves.

An hour Later…

Tsunade's nephews stood before her in the village hall. She smiled at them before she began. "Nephews, I am growing older now, and need to retire. However, I cannot decide which of you three will be my successor because you are all good men. At the same time, I would like the best, and cleverest of you to act as the village leader. In order to do this, I have decided to give you three missions to do. The one that performs them the best shall be my heir. The first thing I shall ask you to do is to bring me a pet that is not only cute, but easy to care for as well as being self sufficient enough that it can be left alone for stretches of time. I give you one week find this perfect pet for me." Tsunade saw Shikamaru open his mouth, most likely to ask if he could get out of the running for successor, and continued on, "And Shikamaru, you must participate. If you do not, you count your lifestyle of an occasion mission given here and there goodbye." She saw with satisfaction, of her hoped for successor, Shikamaru closing his mouth. "And if you don't come back after a week, I will be sending ANBU out to collect you since you then be considered a missing-nin."

The three young men bowed low, and promised their dear aunt that they would do their very best as they set off to complete their task. Kiba along with his faithful Akamaru, set forth to the northern gates that lead to Yukigakure to find and bring back the famed husky hounds that were well known for their beauty and survival skills. Akamaru was the most perfect of animal companions, it was only right that he get his aunt a pet that worked so well for him. Shino of course, immediately left to head towards the southern gate where it would take him towards Sunagakure where he heard tales of self sufficient pets. Shikamaru sighed as he stared at the retreating forms of his younger cousins. "Mendokuse," he muttered. Looking at the gates at random, he picked the one that had the best views of the sun and sky so he could look at the clouds while he traveled in search of the perfect pet.

Shikamaru wandered for a few days before he came to a large forest. He sat down and leaned against a tree trunk to rest. "Mendokuse…" he muttered closing his eyes. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this."

"What's so troublesome?" came a light, musical voice.

Shikamaru cracked open an eye. He hadn't sensed anyone in the forest. Thinking that it was just his imagination, he closed his eye.

"Hey!" came the indignant voice. "Don't you dare ignore me!"

Surprised to hear that voice again, Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked around. There was no one in the forest. However, next to him was a small gold colored boar. "Hey there little guy," he said, reaching out to pet the small boar that was watching him with surprisingly intelligent blue eyes. "What are you- Ouch!" He cried, snatching his throbbing fingers back. "What the hell was that for?" he asked, staring at the pig despite knowing for a fact that he knew that they didn't talk. It didn't have the markings or clothes that proclaimed it as a summoning creature.

"That's for calling me a little guy!" said the offended boar.

Shikamaru felt his jaw drop in amazement. "How the… what the…"

The boar sat down on its haunches. "Yes," she said, drawling out her words. "I am a talking pig. Name's Ino by the way. What's so troublesome that you're wandering about in my forest?"

"Err…" It took Shikamaru a minute or two before he could collect himself so that he could think coherently. There was no way in hell he could really be talking to a non-nin pig, so he decided that he must have fallen into a different level of sleep. Usually he wasn't this aware in his dreams, but since Shikamaru was a lazy man, he went along with what his mind conjured up for him. What the hell, he thought. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll see pigs fly as well. "Not that it'll do me much good talking to you," he said to Ino, "but I need to find the perfect pet for my aunt. She wants to step from her role as leader in Konoha, but before she can pick out her successor, I have to complete 3 of her tasks to the best of my ability." He scooted away nervously from the small boar towards the end of his sentence, not liking how she flashed her tusks at him for his comment.

"Watch what you say," was her only comment before she continued on, "So what kind of pet does she want? I'll see what I can do to help."

Shikamaru shrugged. This was a dream after all, he decided. It wouldn't hurt to give out the details of his mission to a figment of his imagination.

When he finished, Ino stood up. "I can help you out Shikamaru. Just wait here." With that said, she trotted deeper into the forest, squealing loudly. She returned a few minutes later, with an even smaller pig following her. Ino stood before Shikamaru. "This here is Tonton. He's a pot bellied pig. Take him back with you to Konoha and give him to your aunt. She won't be able to resist him. He's cute, self-reliant, and intelligent to boot."

Shikamaru eyed the piglet doubtfully, but since it was just a dream, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to go along with what his conscious was telling him. "Sure," he said. "I'll head back for Konoha after I've finished my nap." He ignored the huff of impatience that Ino gave at his laziness, and leaned back against the tree.

Ignoring Ino was the worst idea he had ever had since he began searching for the perfect pet because not long after he leaned against the tree, Ino grabbed a large tree branch with her mouth and whacked the shadow-user good. Shikamaru's last thought before he blacked out was: I hope this dream ends soon.

A few hours later

Shikamaru woke up to someone nudging his leg and his head on fire. Carefully cracking open his eyes to see the culprit responsible for waking him up, he saw a pot bellied piglet. "Mendokuse…" he muttered, rubbing his aching head as he carefully sat up. "How the…" he stared at the piglet. It looked exactly like the one he had seen in his dream. The only difference was that Ino was nowhere to be found.

Ah, what the hell, he decided. He was too lazy to look for any particular pet for his aunt, so he would take this little piglet back with despite the strangeness of situation. After all, it seemed as if fortune had decided to give him a freebie, and Shikamaru wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Rsunade had practically forced him to do this. It wasn't as if he wanted to be the Hokage of Konoha, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he'd rather be the one running the show instead of Shino or Kiba. Shino would turn Konoha into regimented village like that of his insect colonies if he could, and Kiba… well, he was just feckless when it came to running things. Konoha would most likely run wild within a month of Kiba's control, which would put an end to Shikamaru's life of easy days of caring for the family deer and the occasional mission he chose to pick up. If there was one thing that Shikamaru really loved –aside from the insanely hot girl he had seen in Otagakure, it was his laid back lifestyle.

The closer and closer that Shikamaru got to Konoha, the more convinced he was that the piglet he found was the perfect pet for Tsunade. During his way back, not once did he have to worry about the piglet. Tonton –it was easier to keep that name that was given to him than for Shikamaru to come up with a new one, followed him no matter where he went, fed himself without having to bother Shikamaru, and best of all, provided excellent company without having to utter a single word. Shikamaru was confident that his choice would be better than what Shino or Kiba had to offer.

Despite the fact that Shikamaru had started back to Konoha late, he arrived at roughly the same time as his cousins. Together with their respective chosen pets, they gathered before Tsunade to present her what they had brought.

Tsunade was delighted to see what they had brought her. While she thought the Yuki husky was beautiful to behold, she did not choose it since it required some form of dependence on her. Taking a look at Shino's pet that was brought to her –which was a fire salamander from Shunagakure, Tsunade cringed. Her summoning contract with Katsuyu would never stand for it. The exotic fire salamander would die within a week of meeting her battle hungry slugs. She shook her head at Shino with regret. Turning to look at what Shikamaru had brought her, Tsunade couldn't help but give a small coo of delight. The pot bellied pig was the cutest thing she had ever seen, and if Shikamaru wasn't fibbing about the little piglet, it was completely self sufficient as well. "I'm sorry boys," she said addressing Shino and Kiba, "but I think Shikamaru is the winner of this mission." She took the little piglet from Shikamaru, stroking its soft back as she asked for the name.

"Tonton" Shinamaru replied. "And it's a boy," he added unnecessarily, remembering how he had reprimanded by the strange Ino-pig.

Tsunade nodded. "Since I have no use for the Yuki husky and the Suna salamander," she said, cuddling Tonton, "you boys are free to do as you'd like with them. You may gift them to someone else. But before you leave, this is the second mission that I have for you. The New Year is upon us, and in order to properly greet it, we need toso saké. Unfortunately, we no longer have enough of the herb Asiasari Radix. It is a rare and valuable herb that is difficult to find. Your mission is to locate the herb and to bring back as much as you can."

At this announcement, all three young men groaned. Medicinal herb hunting was one of the worst jobs out there. While it was technically a D-ranked mission, the now increasing scarcity of the herb changed it to that of a B-rank since it took up so much effort. As they had before, Shikamaru, Shino, and Kiba set out to look for the herb.

With his two cousins, Shikamaru left from the gate he had used in the previous mission. Shino and Kiba, annoyed with the slower pace that Shikamaru set, went ahead of him. After four days of wandering, Shikamaru arrived at the forest where he had found Tonton. "Mendokuse," Shikamaru muttered as he sat down to take a break. He was unwrapping an onigiri when he heard a familiar voice.

"What's so troublesome again this time?"

It was the small gold colored boar from his dream –or at least he thought he had dreamed. His hands stilled. "No way," he muttered. "I can't believe I'm seeing you again…" He dropped the onigiri, hands help up in a placating gesture when he saw Ino begin to frown. "Not that I don't mind," he quickly added. "It's just that… You're not a summoning animal. How the hell is it that you can talk?"

Ino sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it some other time. So what's your problem? And," she continued, eyeing Shikamaru's fallen onigiri of rice and grilled fish, "you gonna eat that?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Nah," he said. He pushed the Onigiri to Ino, who began to eat it with delicate bites.

"So what's wrong?" Ino asked when she had finished the onigiri. Shikamaru took a moment to swallow the ration bar he had begun to eat after he had given Ino his onigiri before answering. "Tsunade wants us to find a supply of Asiasari Radix so she can make toso saké for the New Year. But-"

"Eh? That's all?" Ino said, interrupting the shadow user. "That herb has been growing wild where I used to live with my father. I used use them to help me maintain my hair." She turned towards the forest. "Get up and come on. I'll show you where to get them."

Sighing once, Shikamaru put away the rations bar as he got up to follow the gold who was certainly not a figment of his imagination.

Later on that evening…

Shikamaru left the forest, checking to make sure that he had properly secured the storage scroll of Asiasari. Ino stood at the edge, watching him go until she could no longer see him anymore. What a strange man, she mused. Most people didn't return to the forests of Oto once they left, but he had. I wonder if I'll see him again, she thought. Despite his apparent laziness and irritated expressions, he had been kind to Ino despite the fact that she was now trapped in the form of a boar. Which is more than what she could say to the two konoha shinobi she encountered two days prior to Shikamaru's arrival.

Back in Konoha….

When Shikamaru came home, he found Shino and Kiba standing before Tsunade with a few pouches of the herb. "Ah Shikamaru," Tsunade said, noticing her tardy nephew. "So nice of you to join us. Where is your share of the herbs?"

"Hold on a second Aunt," he muttered. Digging into his travel pack, Shikamaru grabbed the storage scroll. Handing it over to Tsunade, he said, "I have approximately two bales of herb stored, along with several packets of seeds so that they can be raised here in the local nursery."

Tsunade had just finished summoning forth the herbs from storage when she heard what Shikamaru had finished with. "Excellent Shikamaru. Excellent," she said, clapping him heartily on the shoulder. She turned around to look to face Shino and Kiba. "I'm afraid boys that Shikamaru completed this mission the best. Thank you for your efforts. You will be compensated accordingly. Now, moving onto the third and final mission, you will have approximately a month to carry this out. This is a missing person search. Inoichi," she said, pointing to the tall blonde man that was standing off to the side, "as you well know, has been staying with us in Konoha for the past several months. He agreed to be affiliated with our village on one condition: that we find and bring his daughter Ino to the village. He has been searching for his daughter for the past several months and has yet to find her. She was last seen in Otagakure. Inoichi will debrief you with information on her. Anyone of you who can bring her home or bring in conclusive evidence of where she is, will be the one to successfully complete this mission. Yamanaka-san," Tsunade said, giving the floor to the blonde man.

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Inoishi said. He stepped forward to begin debriefing.

End of Part 1

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Author's Notes:

Onigiri: rice ball.

Toso Sake: A type of medicinal sake that is typically drunk at New Years. it is a popular sake to drink because is written using two Japanese characters: 蘇 representing evil spirits and 屠 meaning to defeat.

Asiasari Radix: an herb that is actually used in making Toso sake. It has several medicinal uses such as helping fight the onset of a cold, and growing hair.


End file.
